Things That Go Bump in the Night

"From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!" Anon.

Ruckman Road, the street where the Chapel of the Centurion stands, also backs onto Ghost Alley and faces the Post Parade Grounds.

Next door to the chapel is 36 Ruckman Road, half of a duplex that was built between 1885 and 1890. In the set of quarters several things happened that made the occupant swear that his wife walked around with her eyes closed so she wouldn't see anything. These quarters seemed to be general headquarters for all of the poltergeists, ghosts, and noisy nocturnal spirits at Fort Monroe.

The two-story house, long and narrow, was furnished exquisitely with family heirlooms and items acquired in the army couple's travels. Because of the value of some of the appointments, the maid was not allowed to handle them; they were always cleaned by the woman of the house. In preparation for a tea, she had cleaned and waxed and polished her lovely items the day before. Coming downstairs the next morning, she was astonished to find that a chest in the entrance hall had been moved to face the rear of the house but all of the objects on top were still facing front. In the living room, the andirons in the fireplace had been rearranged to be horizontal instead of facing the front of the fireplace.

This was just one of many in a series of mysterious occurances in this colonel's house. About two weeks after they moved into the house and had finished laying the rugs, the couple was awakened about 5 o'clock one morning by the sound of someone stomping across an uncarpeted floor. Each, thinking the other had arisen and was making a great deal of unnecessary noise, sat up in bed to find out what was going on. They faced each other, still in bed. The colonel turned on the light and the heavy walking stopped. When he turned out the light, it resumed. He turned on the light again and the walking stopped again. They checked their teen-aged daughter. She was sleeping. He went to the head of the stairs and called. No answer. During this episode, their dog was sleeping on the bedroom floor and did not awaken.

On one occasion, an out-of-town visitor, sleeping in a guest room, became quite disturbed when he heard a loud crash which he thought sounded like a picture falling off a wall. He got out of bed and checked the room. No pictures had fallen in his room, but as a precautionary measure he took down all the pictures. The next morning when he mentioned the matter, he and his hostess toured the house to look for the fallen picture or object. All of the pictures were hanging. No one else had heard a noise. The visitor remarked it could have been the people next door because he had heard noises from that side of the duplex. His stunned hostess told him the other half of the house was not occupied.

It was in this same guest room that a woman overnight guest said she saw a little girl with long blond curls, dressed in the style of the turn of the century, walk across the room and through the unopened door.

One final episode in these quarters: an older daughter came for a visit and was sleeping in a back bedroom. Even further back was a room used for sewing. During this daughter's visit, from this room came noises of all kinds—drawers opening and shutting, doors slamming, and just a general banging and hammering.